Digital Commons Network^™

The Effects Of Type Of Recall On Memory Accuracy In An Eyewitness Case Vignette, Ketura Mccroy

Dissertations

Memory and recall play an essential role in determining convictions in cases of eyewitness testimony. Eyewitnesses can appear confident in their statements, yet one’s memory and recall of a witnessed event can become distorted or manipulated in the process given that it is highly susceptible to various errors, biases, and misleading information such as suggestive questions. The purpose of this study was to further examine how two types of recall (i.e., cued and free) effect eyewitness testimony. In this study, 43 participants read a hypothetical case vignette of a murder crime scene; they were then randomly put into either a …

Stereotype Threat: A Proposed Process Model On The Impact Of Stereotype Threat On Self-Efficacy And Minority Performance, Sherese Stewart

Dissertations

Kingdon and Cassen (2010) indicated that historically there has been concern about the educational achievement of minority individuals. There is a need for research about the psychological mechanisms that play a part in the minority achievement gap. This document explored how stereotype threat impacts self-efficacy and minority academic performance and implications for cultural mistrust, imposter phenomenon, and self-fulfilling prophecies. All these factors have the propensity to place minority individuals at risk for low performance, leading to gaps in education. The population of focus for this review consisted of African Americans, Latinx individuals, and women. There has been limited research about …

Culturally Adapted Multiphasic Treatment Program: A Proposed Model For Increasing Successful Community Reintegration For Sex-Trafficked Black Teens, Shayla A. Wright

Dissertations

The commercial sex trafficking industry is a silent epidemic that has been sweeping across nations for centuries. Within the United States, Black teen girls make up the largest demographic of commercially sexually exploited children. Despite efforts, most treatment interventions and programs have limited success in preventing or reintegrating Black teen girls into their respective communities. Even more alarming, most treatment interventions do not consider the impact of culture and other lived experiences. This critical literature review identified and evaluated effective treatment modalities and programs for Black teens and discussed key components that
have been found for community reintegration. The research …

Impact Of Covid-19 On Latinx And Black Communities, Carolina Zuluaga

Dissertations

This critical literature review project explored the impact of COVID-19 on Latinx and Black communities. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as of September 28, 2022, around 16% of COVID-19 cases in the United States were among Latinx people, and 14% of cases were among Black people (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2022). Since COVID-19 began, clinicians have become more conscious of the effects of health disparities within racial and ethnic minorities, which has warranted increased advocacy by educating health and mental health providers and creating and providing resources to these communities and clinicians. The review …

Assessing The Risk, Addressing The Need: A Mixed Method Approach To Designing A Strengths-Based, Post-Incarceration, Correctional Assessment For Women, Rashonda Johnson

Dissertations

Women are the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population, steadily increasing since 1985 (ACLU, n.d.). More than one million women are behind bars or have some involvement with the criminal justice system. The rapid growth of incarceration among women has led scholars and researchers to address the growing needs and risk levels that lead to increased recidivism rates. The creation of assessment tools specifically focused on female populations began in 1999. However, before this time, instruments were historically designed for men within the criminal justice system, and addendums were added to these tools to be used with female populations (Voorhis …

Increasing Life Skills While Decreasing Depression, Anxiety, And Stress In Transitional Aged Youth: A Person-Centered Mentorship Approach, Allanah Roberts-Headley

Dissertations

Transitional Aged Youth (TAYs) are young adults between 18-24 who have recently aged out of the foster care system and are now a part of the Extended Foster Care system (EFC). Unfortunately, this population is not guaranteed familial or social support. They have to rely on basic knowledge and skills obtained while in the foster care system to help with navigate their world. Most TAYs end up homeless, unemployed, and incarcerated. There is also a high pregnancy rate among TAYs. Due to the limited assistance they receive upon entering EFC, they are at a higher risk of experiencing mental health …

What If Critical Race Theory Were Just A Legal Theory? A Christian Critique, Timon Cline, Neil Shenvi

Liberty University Law Review

The national debate over Critical Race Theory (CRT) continues to grow and deepen. Some Christians seemingly find CRT legitimate, useful, and nonthreatening to Christian theological commitments. This view is incorrect. CRT is in fundamental conflict with Christianity due to its misguided perspectives on law, morality, truth, and justice. Although CRT is more than “just a legal theory,” this article examines CRT’s legal origins and outlook, showing the inevitable tension between its claims and a Christian understanding of reality. This article also calls attention to several policy proposals suggested by CRT scholars to demonstrate how they are incompatible with Christian views …

Racial-Ethnic Harm And Healing: Comparative National Mechanisms For Social Remorse And Repair, R Drew Smith

Liberty University Law Review

Today a sharp divide exists between Americans. Although they agree that racial harm occurred in this country’s history, they disagree about the extent of harm to be acknowledged and the means of repair to achieve justice and social healing. The United States’ history of (attempted) racial reconciliation includes initiatives by white Christians since the 1950s that formally acknowledged the sin of racism but mostly lacked corresponding political activism. The tensions and divergences between attitudinal and structural approaches to interracial cooperation that existed a half-century ago persist today. This article seeks to provide a broader, global perspective to the United States’ …

Foreward, Morse H. Tan

Liberty University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Contributor Biographies, Editors Of Suurj

SUURJ: Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

Inefficacy Of The Crisis Intervention Team Model, Madeline Chaplain

SUURJ: Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal

Following the murder of Joseph Dewayne Robinson in 1987 by Memphis, Tennessee police, community and civil organizers collaborated with the Universities of Memphis and Tennessee and the Memphis Police Department to organize Memphis PD’s Crisis Intervention Team (CIT). Similar modes of the CIT model have been deployed nationally as a law enforcement-based crisis intervention strategy aiming to reduce lethality in police response to mental health crises. At least 2,700 communities around the United States utilize CIT methodology to provide mental health education and training for police officers, yet statistical evidence of police-related response, injury, and use of force with individuals …

Suurj Volume 7 Entire Volume, Editors Of Suurj

SUURJ: Seattle University Undergraduate Research Journal

No abstract provided.

The Scope Of The Prison Mailbox Rule, Caitlyn B. Switzer

Liberty University Law Review

Federal courts are filled with situations where an inmate might rely on the prison mail system to mail a document to the court. However, the prison mail system is notoriously unreliable. The prison mailbox rule was formed to provide a fair opportunity for inmates to personally mail a filing to the court before the expiration of the legally permitted time to file.

Federal Rule of Appellate Procedure 4(c) codifies the prison mailbox rule. It provides that an inmate’s appeal is considered filed with the clerk when the inmate delivers the filing to prison mail authorities. Prior to the Supreme Court’s …

Greened Out: Improving Virginia's Recreational Marijuana Legislation, M Logan Blake

Liberty University Law Review

With the passage of the Cannabis Control Act in 2021, Virginia became the first southern state to legalize recreational marijuana. However, the operative language of the new possession statute, “a person 21 years of age or older may lawfully possess on his person or in any public place not more than one ounce of marijuana,” coupled with the lawful ability to grow four marijuana plants in residences, created interpretational issues. What would happen to a lawful home-grower whose marijuana plants produced more than one ounce? The General Assembly fixed this problem in a 2022 budget amendment that created a blanket …

The Role Of School Leadership In Preparing High School Teachers To Engage In Restorative Practices, Margaret Chmura

Doctor of Education Program Dissertations

In schools across the United States, student discipline policies have traditionally been punitive, removing students from the educational. Researchers have shown that punitive consequences are often assigned inordinately to subgroups of students (e.g., Black or Brown students and special education students). Restorative practices are an alternate approach to punitive consequences and are transforming student discipline in schools across the country. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to discover types of support that are needed from school leaders in transitioning teachers to the use of restorative practices in the high school setting. Five teacher participants engaged in the study …

#Nofilter: How Discovery Filter Teams Breach Privilege Rights And Why They Require Stricter Regulation, Kelly Murray

Global Business Law Review

This note examines the Supreme Court’s substantial need to weigh in on how filter teams should be used given current circuit splits and identifies several best practices to remedy the issues they currently present. Part I discusses the principal issues for which filter teams are scrutinized. Namely, numerous district courts hold that filter teams provide the government with the unfair advantage of determining which materials from their opposing counsel are privileged. This often leads to an overly broad inclusion of privileged documents, which can violate defendants’ Sixth Amendment rights to a fair and complete trial. Some courts even go so …

Measuring Success: An Evaluability Assessment For The Grand Forks Domestic Violence Court, Adam K. Matz, Roni Mayzer, Samantha Ledahl, Aj Buntrock

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

First implemented in the 1990s, specialized domestic violence courts represent one of several solutions developed to improve the response to domestic violence and enhance services for victims (Collins et al., 2021). Other solutions have included mandatory arrest and prosecutorial no-drop policies as well as increased funding support for victim services. There are reportedly over 300 DVCs in the United States as well as 50 in Canada and 100 in the United Kingdom (Eley, 2005; Gutierrez et al., 2016; Hemmens et al., 2020; Home Office, 2008; Tutty & Koshan, 2013). Based on input from a variety of key stakeholders including judges, …

Indiana Law Faculty Member’S Book Honored With Ippy, Other Awards, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

Nearly a year to the day since it was published, a book from incoming Indiana University Maurer School of Law faculty member has earned an Independent Publisher Book Award (“IPPY.”)

Professor Valena Beety’s Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights won the Gold Medal in Women’s Issues. Since 1997, the Independent Publisher Book Awards have been recognizing the best independently published books each year.

Released on May 30, 2022, Beety’s book has already won two other prestigious awards—the Montaigne Medal and the Sarton Nonfiction Award—this spring.

“Professor Beety is a tremendous teacher and scholar, and we’re proud to see …

Unmasking Bias: Investigating Strategies For Minimizing Discrimination In Ai Models, Julia L. Martin

Computer Science Senior Theses

Artificial Intelligence (AI) models are increasingly used as predictive tools with real-world applications occurring in diverse fields ranging from the healthcare industry to the criminal justice system. While AI often offers efficient and relatively effective solutions, there are growing concerns regarding AI’s role in decision-making processes due to potential biases embedded in these models. In many cases, bias in AI models can produce unfair outcomes, perpetuate social inequities, and undermine the trustworthiness of AI systems. This thesis explores this problem and spotlights certain biased models that are currently utilized in real-world situations. One such example is a highly biased AI …

Investigating English-Language Dialect-Adjusted Models, Samiha Datta

Computer Science Senior Theses

This thesis describes several approaches to better understand how large language models interpret different dialects of the English language. Our goal is to consider multiple contexts of textual data and to analyze how English-language dialects are realized in them, as well as how a variety of machine learning techniques handle these differences. We focus on two genres of text data: news and social media. In the news context, we establish a dataset covering news articles from five countries and four US states and consider language modeling analysis, topic and sentiment distributions, and manual analysis before performing nine experiments and evaluating …

Moral Panics And Politicians Who Create Them: A Comparative Historical Analysis Of The Crack-Cocaine And Methamphetamine Epidemics In The United States, Sasha Nicole Burdsal

Student Theses and Dissertations

This study compares two widely known drug epidemics: the crack-cocaine epidemic and the methamphetamine epidemic that has shifted our criminal justice system and societies within the last 40 years. The research is conducted utilizing a qualitative content analysis, with a concentration on the rhetoric of politicians who create a moral panic around any specific drug when beneficial to them. Racial disparity demonstrated through inconsistent sentencing and mistreatment of individuals is investigated, along with the militarization of police as ordered by government officials. The War on Drugs – a war that can never be won – is thoroughly reviewed to elucidate …

The Path Of Securitization: Transformation Of Free Papua Movement (Opm) Terminology From Armed Criminal Groups To Separatist And Terrorist Groups, I Putu Hadi Pradnyana

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The purpose of this study is to analyze the pattern of securitization in Papua using the speech act framework. Regarding the response to the change in status or terminology of the Free Papua Movement or Organisasi Papua Merdeka (OPM) to the Separatist Terrorist Group. The Securitization Theory of the Copenhagen School defines security as a social construction and process, not as an objective condition. This contrasts with the traditional security studies approach which defines security in terms of the threat, use, and control of military force by state actors. This research will focus on the pattern of securitization of the …

Queer Rights After Dobbs V. Jackson Women's Health Organization, Robin Maril

San Diego Law Review

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has ignited a firestorm of commentary warning that the end of Roe v. Wade would inevitably lead to the end of constitutionally protected queer rights. This article argues that it is far too soon to concede that Lawrence v. Texas and Obergefell v. Hodges are destined for the dustbin of history. Queer rights and abortion rights both advance equality and have significant liberatory value, but they are functionally different rights that rest on distinct legal foundations. Although both sets of rights may be essential to a progressive platform for inclusive political and social change, …

Reinvest In Us: Reimagine The Role Of Police In The U.S., Jamil Davis

College Honors Program

In America, we must question and understand what is “law and order.” Over centuries, America developed a racialized slave-class politically and socially through power and force. Police are the foot soldiers of maintaining law and order as Slave Patrols evolved into the State Police. In my thesis, I discuss how their efforts in traffic enforcement enable a dominant class to target and enslave the oppressed class. Traffic control leads to 18 million interactions a year which is 34 people a minute. The numbers of interactions along with persistent practices regarding discrimination cause police to be a social liability. When bad …

Discretion And Deterrence In Tax Sentencing After Rita, Gall And Kimbrough—Opportunities For Alternative Sentences And Potential Abuses, Marla Schwaller Carew

Florida Tax Review

In Part II of this Article I will describe the prehistory and creation of the United States Sentencing Commission and Federal Sentencing Guidelines, the roots of the concept of "white collar" crime and its treatment under the Guidelines, and the goals specific to white collar criminal sentencing that motivated Congress, in part, to take these steps to formalize criminal sentencing. I will briefly revisit the Supreme Court's first holdings regarding the limits of the Guidelines and the Sixth Amendment in Koon v. United States, Apprendi v. New Jersey, Blakely v. Washington and United States v. Booker, which …

Phr & Clihhr Submission To Icc Otp (May 2023), Physicians For Human Rights (Phr), Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Reports & Policy Submissions

This report was submitted by the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights (CLIHHR) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in May 2023 to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It provides legal and strategic recommendations on investigating and prosecuting crimes of sexual and gender-based violence, with an emphasis on survivor-centered approaches and international legal standards. The submission highlights the importance of addressing such crimes within the framework of international justice.

Collusive Prosecution, Ben A. Mcjunkin, J.J. Prescott

Law & Economics Working Papers

In this Article, we argue that increasingly harsh collateral consequences have surfaced an underappreciated and undertheorized dynamic of criminal plea bargaining. Collateral consequences that mostly or entirely benefit third parties (such as other communities or other states) create an interest asymmetry that prosecutors and defendants can exploit in plea negotiations. In particular, if a prosecutor and a defendant can control the offense of conviction (often through what some term a “fictional plea”), they can work together to evade otherwise applicable collateral consequences, such as deportation or sex-offender registration and notification. Both parties arguably benefit: Prosecutors can leverage collateral consequences to …

Criminal Justice Reform And The Centrality Of Intent, Cynthia V. Ward

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Democratizing Tthe Eighth Amendment, Erin E. Braatz

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Stacking The Deck: How The Eighth Circuit's Decision In United States V. Crandall Threatens The First Step Act's Bipartisan Criminal Justice Reforms, Anthony Passela

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.